Families on Holy Ground

Gather MONTHLY, every 1st Sunday at 3:00 p.m. at St. John Neumann Catholic Church with fellow Catholic families as we grow together in our rich and beautiful faith. Every gathering will be followed with a potluck or snack. Activities will rotate on a three-month schedule:

* Family Holy Hour: enjoy a child-friendly time of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament with singing, reflection, prayers!
* Liturgical Feast Day celebrations: dive deeper into the faith with crafts, games, discussions and food centered around one of the months’ special Feast days!
* Movie/Social Night: gather to enjoy a movie or other social activity and snacks!

JMJ

JMJ stands for Jesus Mary and Joseph – the Holy Family that we take as our role model. Our goal is to support new marriages and young families as we grow together in our Catholic faith. Events designed for JMJ have spiritual, educational and social goals that build up our Catholic community into a strong support network.

Young couples and families can participate in monthly events or become more involved in a small group of other young couples and families. We look forward to meeting you!

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Study and Fellowship for Families and Couples in their 20s, 30s and 40s

Matt and Christine Blair offer a monthly meeting at their home for families and couples who are interested in learning more about their faith and getting to know other families in the parish. The meetings are held the last Saturday of each month from 6-8pm with a guest speaker who provides spiritual education on a particular topic.

The talks are followed by food and fellowship. Free childcare is provided for the children during the talk. Subscribe for Fulton Sheen Society emails through Flocknote by signing up through the Holy Ghost website, or you may contact Christine at christine.h.blair@gmail.com or (865) 356-2017 if you are interested in learning more about this group.

In Part Three of the Apostolic Exhortation of Saint John Paul Familiaris Consortio (The Role of the Christian Family in the Modern World) is listed 4 tasks of the family

Family, Become What You Are

Hence the family has the mission to guard, reveal and communicate love, and this is a living reflection of and a real sharing in God’s love for humanity and the love of Christ the Lord for the Church His bride. Every particular task of the family is an expressive and concrete actuation of that fundamental mission. We must therefore go deeper into the unique riches of the family’s mission and probe its contents, which are both manifold and unified.

Thus, with love as its point of departure and making constant reference to it, the recent Synod emphasized four general tasks for the family:

1) forming a community of persons;

2) serving life;

3) participating in the development of society;

4) sharing in the life and mission of the Church.

2015 NRVC/CARA study on the Role of the Family in Nurturing Vocations

Executive Summary

This report presents findings from a major study of the influence of families on the discernment of a vocation to religious life and priesthood. The goal of the research is to provide information that will help families promote vocations to religious life and priesthood.

CARA surveyed 2,174 men and women religious and 4,140 diocesan priests and seminarians who entered since 2000. The survey also asked respondents to provide contact information for a family member. CARA then contacted 1,587 identified family members with an invitation to complete a similar survey.

CARA received completed responses from 1,279 men and women religious and 1,352 diocesan priests and seminarians for a response rate of 59 percent and 33 percent, respectively, and 892 family members, for a response rate of 58 percent. Another 15 family members participated in one of two focus groups, held in Washington, D.C. and in Chicago, IL, in May 2015.

Major findings

Start with a strong Catholic foundation

• Family members of seminarians, priests, and religious are usually Catholic themselves and are more likely than Catholics in general to have attended a Catholic school. They are more likely than other Catholic adults to say that their Catholic faith is the most important part of their daily life. One in five had a priest or a religious already in their extended family.

• These family members report a more engaged prayer life than do other Catholic parents or other Catholic adults in general. Nearly nine in ten pray daily, compared to just over half of U.S. Catholic adults and just over a third of Catholic parents. They also feel more strongly than Catholic adults in general that it is important that younger generations of the family grow up Catholic.

Build a culture of vocation in families

• Religious faith was at least “somewhat” important to these families at the time their family members was considering a vocation. Six in ten say the family was attending Mass together weekly and a quarter say the family typically prayed at home together daily, apart from prayers at meals.

• Family members were engaged in their faith in public ways. Eight in ten were active in parish life, two in three say the family participated in Eucharistic Adoration, and three in five say the family prayed the rosary together.

• Families typically ate dinner together daily and two in three report that the family gathered together at least once a week for a game or movie night, family discussion, or family prayer.

• More than half report that Catholic media, such as books, movies, and TV shows, were important religious activities in the family. About the same proportion say that volunteer or charitable service in the community were important to the family.

Support and promote vocations in families

• More than half of responding family members say they have encouraged a family member to consider a vocation to priesthood or religious life. Most often, it is parents or grandparents who encourage vocational discernment.

• Family members recommend acceptance, encouragement, and support for those considering a vocation. They suggest that families should uphold priesthood and religious life as options for young people when they are exploring and considering their future.

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